The thing is, I love food. While I'm a huge fan of down home cooking and count several total dives in my list of all-time favorite restaurants (Shout out to the Augusta Tap in Augusta, Iowa!!!), I love fancy pants food too. The real snootie-patootie stuff.

And I really love goat cheese. That tiny little brick of gooey goodness that will set you back $6 a pop. And I know that if I'm going to committed to cooking a LOT more at home, I'll fall off the wagon if I don't work to satisfy...

1/2/09--

Spent about $80 on essential oils. I have lots of allergy/sinus issues in addition to migraine problems. A friend recommended Young Living Oils, but I found a couple other vendors that are much more economical. I'll be submitting these expenses to my FSA plan.

1/3/09--

$25.00-- 30 Newspapers + tax

Walmart-- $63.43
$3.00 Clearance extension cords (2)
$2.50 Switches for Xmas tree (2)
$1.50 2 prs. clearance xmas...

Tammy brings up an excellent point-- how to make a budget and stick to it! I think that the following things will help me stay on track this year:

1. Start off knowing what you HAVE. A poster in the CVS forum asked people what was in there stockpiles. It got me thinking it was inventory time. I did my HBA inventory last night, and I'll be doing my food inventory sometime this week.

2. Know what is/is not a must have. Last month, I sat down and made a realistic...

One of my New Year's resolutions is that I want to better budget my expenses over the next year.

I'm committing myself to a food budget. Here are the constraints that I am working under:

1. I'm feeding primarily myself (though my sister is in college and lives in an apartment 4 blocks away, so....)

2. While I'm not a vegetarian, I LOVE fruits and vegetables and I eat a lot of produce.

3. I'm also a big milk drinker.

4....

I've always been a person who used the inserts. Each week, I'd read the previews for what coupons to expect, and then I'd buy 4-10 copies of the paper, depending on the number of inserts, q's I'd use, etc. I have two CVS cards, so I would get 10 papers when there were coupons that would be usable for items that were limit 10. In KC, there is a neighboring city, Independence, who's paper comes out on Saturday and is only $0.75. So, 10 copies for $7.50 wasn't too bad. If I had to get the KC Star...